Organizers are promising us the biggest dhow festival so far, despite everything, with participants flocking in from all corners of the world, including Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Turkey, India, Greece, Italy and Zanzibar.

To make it age friendly to all visitors, the scope of activities has expanded vastly since last year. There will also be a variety of traditional Qatari maritime competitions, such as Hadaq, Shoush, Tafreesh, Tajdeef, Bareekha, Al Shira and Sabaha, as well as several folkloric shows.

Nonetheless, the stars of the show are the dhows, the traditional Qatari sail boats that weres used for fishing, trade, transportation and pearl diving for centuries.

There will also be a maritime crafts market, in which participating countries can display and offer their traditional maritime craftsmanship and tools. Dhow and sailing enthusiast can be sure to find high-quality ropes, sails and dredging machines.